


Antipathy

by crystallhearts



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, namine has horrible self esteem and deserves better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 19:13:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15847593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystallhearts/pseuds/crystallhearts
Summary: With no more work to be done, she didn’t know what to do.The dim light of the twilight sky, the breeze brushing through her hair, the sensation of grass beneath her shoes...things she had once dreamed of and yearned for—it all felt too alien. Naminé never thought she’d actually be in this situation.Naminé never really thought about herself. After everything she's done, she's not sure what to think.





	Antipathy

Watching him--she _promised_ she'd watch over him--she wondered if he knew.

She couldn't blame him if, after leaving the Organization, he had decided to simply play along with the whole charade. It was a stupid idea, though. His fighting was too clumsy. He saw the dusks as monsters that crawled out of a horror film. He held the keyblade like it was a strange, new entity. And he didn’t recognize 'Ansem' at all. It was clear—the Roxas in the datascape wasn’t the same Roxas from the Organization.

Even with that knowledge, she couldn't refuse the chance to meet him. Even if he wasn’t really himself, she wanted to at least say something, see him once.

She didn’t feel right speaking with him. The sense of guilt was plaguing her--too many regrets piled up in her short life. Under Marluxia, manipulating and changing Sora's memories, treating the other Riku's heart like a plaything, ultimately shattering it when it became too much to handle. Under DiZ, spending hours sorting, piecing through each chain of Sora's memory, dreading the complications at every turn. And now, surrendering Roxas on a silver platter, just to wake Sora up.

It was the best thing for everyone, she tried to remind herself. DiZ had explained it--only Sora stood a chance at moving and dismantling the Organization. There were too many worlds--too many hearts--at stake otherwise.

She tried to stop thinking about that. It was done now. Trying to think of anything else, she stared down at the grass under her feet. She hadn't been outside often--the Organization made sure to keep her under someone's watch every moment she was with them. After escaping them, her need to make things right with Sora kept her indoors, toiling away through each memory. And then, when the complications arose--problems that hurt people that had never even _met_ Sora—leaving her room felt like gross negligence, a broken promise to a broken boy.

Now that promise was fulfilled. With no more work to be done, she didn’t know what to do. The dim light of the twilight sky, the breeze brushing through her hair, the sensation of grass beneath her shoes…things she had once dreamed of and yearned for—it all felt too alien. Naminé never thought she’d actually be in this situation. Any time her mind wandered to think about what life would be like outside of that awful white room, an ugly swirl of guilt rose up in her, and the thought fell instantly to the wayside.

At the rumbling sound of trains, she looked past the fence of the hill to the purple train lurching across the tracks. If that was there…Roxas was gone now. He was with Sora again, which meant it was time for everyone else to part ways.

"Guess that's that." Axel mused, jarring her away her thoughts. Naminé peered over at him, trying to perceive what he might be thinking now. She couldn’t figure place the expression, but something about him seemed sad.

The third member of their party didn't move.

"Let's go."

"Go where?” Axel stepped away from the fence, facing the dark figure. “It's not like we have homes to return to. We don't exist, remember?"

Naminé looked back to her lap. Where could she go? She wasn't able to fight alongside Sora. And whatever Axel was doing, she would only get in the way, especially if any other member of the Organization saw her with him. Drifting back from those thoughts—why couldn’t she focus anymore?—she took in the illustration on the top page: Sora and Roxas, crudely depicted in the same colorful, pained lines that covered every other page in her book.

"Yes, it's true. We may not have homes. But there is someplace I want to go... And someone I want to see..."

She started to wander to what meeting _her_ might be like, not just as her other half, but as someone who had been waiting and watching from afar, wishing desperately to do something more. Before that train of thought could gain any momentum, though, Axel spoke up again.

"So, you think you might let us go? I know you're here to get rid of us, but..."

Naminé took a sharp breath, gaze snapping back to the dark figure looming over her. "DiZ wants to get rid of me?"

She wasn't surprised by this revelation. No matter what doubts she had, DiZ saw Nobodies as nothing more than a means to an end, mere tools to his orchestrated plans. Now that he didn't have use of her powers, it would make sense to eliminate her. That was better than letting her go and risk messing everything up again.

"Go."

"You sure about this?"

"I owe you both."

Naminé stared, incredulous. What could he _possibly_ owe her for? When had she been anything more than trouble, trying to mend the harm she so thoughtlessly inflicted on others?

"For what?"

"Castle Oblivion. You helped us."

She wanted to argue--the entire mess from Castle Oblivion wouldn't have happened if she had refused. Whatever they would have done to her...it would have been better than the sprawling mess she started in that ivory castle.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Axel answered before she could, stretching out his hand. A dark corridor slowly spread up from the ground, shadows wrapping around the portal. Naminé looked at Axel and the swirling portal behind him.

Part of her didn't want to go yet. Even if there was nothing more she could do than watch and wait, there was still so much unsaid. Apologies, questions. And…even though he wasn't following DiZ's instructions, she had the sinking suspicion they wouldn’t see each other for a while.

She couldn't find the words for the teaming thoughts, the feelings that were swelling up inside her and threatening to overflow. She looked to Axel again, still waiting by the portal, and then back to Riku.

A nod--it didn't look like much, but she understood it all the same.

"Thank you."


End file.
